Our Job Is to Bring More Women Into the Investor Community, Says Deutsche Telekom Exec

Even young companies must think ahead about their next step and their next funding round, because efficient use of capital becomes very important when a company goes public, according to Irit Kahan, managing director at Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, the venture investment arm of telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG. Even if you are not there yet, you must have a route to profitability, you cannot rely on growth forever, she said.

Kahan spoke Thursday at a panel discussion with Daniel Kirchleitner, one of the founders of Siemens AG's investment arm Next47, and Daniel Shinar, CEO of Tel Aviv-based growth investment firm ClalTech. The panel took place as part of Calcalist's WeTech Berlin 2020 conference, held in collaboration with Israel's Bank Leumi and German real estate company Aroundtown Property Holdings PLC.

Our role is to bring more and more women into the investor community, Kahan also said.

According to Kirchleitner, the Achilles heel of many companies is monetization. Many companies focus on making the technology work and put off making money, which is a mistake, he said. Kirchleitner leads Next47’s investment efforts in Europe out of the Munich and London offices. His investments focus on logistics, robotics, and enterprise software.

Shinar leads Israeli tech investments for New York-based Access Industries, founded by industrialist and philanthropist Len Blavatnik. Among the companies that Shinar invested in or was a board member at are Frankfurt-listed Rocket Internet and Global Fashion Group, Alibaba Group subsidiary Lazada Group, Deezer, Lightricks Ltd., Yotpo Ltd., IronSource Ltd., and Dynamic Yield Ltd., acquired last year by McDonald's Corp.

Speaking about how a decision to invest is processed, Shinar said that in the end, an investor looks for a story and that investors must correctly identify the story and the protagonists. “For me, that person must be someone I identify with, but also someone who inspires me,” he said. “A smart person, a good manager, and someone with a good grip on reality.”